Prostitution arrived in North America with the early European
settlers. According to The Reader's Companion to American History,
there was no Native American counterpart to the
purchase of sexual
favors (Gilfoyle).
As with so many other 'gifts' of the white man, sex for hire has taken
root in American culture and seems to have flourished. Popularity
notwithstanding, temperance and religious groups fought to guarantee
that the United States outlawed soliciting and offering sex for money
by the early 1900's.

This remains the case in all but one state; in 1971 Nevada
legalized prostitution in counties with a population of less than
400,000 (Gilfoyle).
Even in Nevada, the laws permit prostitution more by omission than by
outright statements to its legality (Brents
and Hausbeck, 312). This puts the brothels now operating in
rural Nevada on precarious legal ground; the owners and operators must
take great care not to offend their respective communities. Most
brothels employ strict curfews and live-in policies for their workers
that offer a degree of protection against both outside criticism and
dangers to the prostitutes.

In the rest of the United States, however, the social
problems experienced under the current laws prohibiting prostitution
include transmission of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs),
exorbitant amounts spent on prosecuting offenders, and the risks
involved for women working alone on the streets. Nevada appears to have
controlled these issues in counties where brothels are both legal
and
licensed.

It can therefore be hypothesized that regulated
legalization will effectively control the social problems caused by
illicit prostitution in the rest of the country.